Progress to Date

Maryland is currently producing 6.7 percent of its energy from in-state renewable generation, which accounts for 33.5 percent of the State’s 2022 goal. Much of the State’s future renewable generation growth is projected to come from offshore wind, onshore wind and solar.

Strategies

• Grow in-state solar capacity to meet the 2% solar carve out of the 2022 Renewable Portfolio Standard goals.
• Utilize Maryland’s existing biomass feedstock resources (such as forestry waste, agricultural crops, municipal waste, and poultry manure) to increase Maryland’s renewable energy output.
• Support the development of onshore wind projects through grant programs, production tax credits, and coordination of local permitting standards.
• Aggressively support and pursue the development of large offshore wind farms.

Read the more detailed plan to achieve this important renewable energy goal...

Delivering Results

• Project Sunburst, established in April of 2010, will produce more than 12,000 MWh of solar energy per year in Maryland.  
• To date, Maryland has awarded grants totaling $10.6 million to 2,450 Maryland businesses and families, contributing 17,700 MWh  Maryland generated solar energy per year
• Awarded $3.5 million in grants to 1500 Marylanders to build geothermal energy systems in their homes and businesses, reducing consumption by about 8,300 MWh per year. 
• Initiated the Clean Horizons Initiative and signed long term power purchase agreements with three large scale solar and wind energy projects.   
• Worked to advance a strong legislative commitment to offshore wind with the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act
• Established a interagency State/Federal task force to advise US Department of Interior on offshore wind leasing.
• Coordinated the development of a federal Request for Interest for an area 10 nautical miles off the coast of Ocean City, which received commercial interest from 8 offshore wind developers.
• Developed a regional off-shore wind memorandum of understanding with neighboring states.
• Entered into a formal partnership with the newly created Atlantic Offshore Wind Consortium, a group of States along the Atlantic coastline working with the U.S. Department of the Interior, to coordinate the development of offshore wind energy production on the Atlantic coast.  
• Increased the percentage of renewable energy that must be purchased from Tier 1 solar energy sources each year between 2011 and 2016.

Progress toward delivery is monitored by the GDU, and assessed regularly at agency and cross-agency Stat meetings.